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The Music of His Dreams

By

Larry Blumenfeld

October 27, 2011

Pianist Fred Hersch isn't the sort to recall his dreams. His domestic partner, Scott Morgan, is the one who does. But after Mr. Hersch emerged from a two-month coma in 2008, the result of pneumonia run rampant, he was left with eight specific dreams intact—some disturbing, others lovely, one focused on Thelonious Monk, whose music has long been a fixture within Mr. Hersch's repertoire.

Mr. Hersch's surprising career resurgence is by now common knowledge. Just a month out of a rehabilitation clinic, in October 2008, he...